The Hill
Date: 12/28/19
By: Zoe Leung

Taiwan is set to hold one of its most important elections in years on January 11. The risk of a

cross-strait crisis has grown in the last few years, impacted by evolving domestic politics in both China and Taiwan, as well as the U.S. policy toward Taiwan.

Recently, as social unrest has engulfed Hong Kong, there is a renewed alignment of Taiwanese and Hong Kong activism in defending democratic values, exemplified by the Taiwanese slogan “Today Hong Kong, tomorrow Taiwan.” The elections in Hong Kong and Taiwan, falling just a few months apart, has provided avenues for the public to respond to Beijing’s policies. To understand Taiwan’s upcoming presidential and legislative races it is essential to examine the triangular relationship between the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The Taiwanese public has been paying close attention to Hong Kong’s fight for universal suffrage and the unrelenting bankruptcy of the “one country two systems” formula since the protest movements took off. Protest politics dominated Hong Kong’s local elections this past November in outright defiance against the establishment and by extension, Beijing, and gave the pan-democratic camp the largest landslide wins in history.    [FULL  STORY]

Other Taiwanese woman and Grab driver in stable condition at local hospital

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/12/28
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer\

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A Taiwanese woman who hailed a car in Malaysia with the Grab app was killed in a hit-and-run accident and another Taiwanese woman injured, reports said Saturday (Dec. 28).

The accident happened Friday (Dec. 27) around 4:35 p.m. in the state of Selangor on a road to Kuala Lumpur International Airport, UDN reported.

A woman identified as Yun Li Mei, 45, sustained serious head injuries and died immediately, while a 44-year-old Taiwanese woman riding with her and the 22-year-old Malaysian Grab driver were injured, police said.

A car reportedly hit the Grab vehicle in the rear, causing it to crash into the ditch by the side of the road. The driver of the other car drove off, with police still looking for information from the public to find him, local media reported.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/12/28
By: Hsu Hsiao-han, Yu Hsiang, Sunrise Huang, Hao Hsueh-chin and Ko Lin

Taipei, Dec. 28 (CNA) Taiwanese billionaire Terry Gou (郭台銘) apologized on Saturday for

describing a female legislative candidate as being too preoccupied with marriage and having children, remarks that led some to criticize him as sexist.

"I hereby would like to extend my sincere apologies to Tzu-yung (洪慈庸)," Gou, the founder of Taiwanese manufacturing giant Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., wrote on his Facebook page.

Gou made the remark during a campaign rally held in Taichung on Friday for Kuomintang candidate Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔), who is looking to dislodge Hung, an independent, from her legislative seat representing a district in Taichung.

Gou cast doubt on Hung's efforts over the last few years as she had been too busy with getting married and having children.    [FULL  STORY]

COLLATERAL DAMAGE: A university’s bird studies laboratory found that a highly toxic pesticide and rodent poisons used by farmers were to blame for deaths of black kites

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 29, 2019
By: Chiu Chih-jou  /  Staff reporter

The number of documented black kites in Taiwan has reached 709, a seven-year high, which is

exciting news for conservationists, the Raptor Research Group of Taiwan said yesterday.

The number of the raptors, listed as a second-level endangered species, has fluctuated over the past several years, totaling 272 in 2013, 626 in 2016, 583 last year and exceeding 700 for the first time this year, the group’s data showed.

Shen Chen-chung (沈振中), nicknamed “Mr Eagle,” was the first person in the nation to attempt a formal count of the species in 1992, when there were fewer than 200, group member Lin Hui-shan (林惠珊) said.

Since the group took over the work in 2013, it has mobilized volunteers nationwide in the fall and winter each year to count the birds in their nighttime habitats, she said.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan Internatiinal
Date: 27 December, 2019
By: Shirley Lin

The Legislature on Friday held its first cross-party negotiations to discuss an anti-infiltration bill pushed through by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). The DPP called for opposition parties to hold rational discussion on the matter.

DPP spokesperson Lee Yen-jong said that the bill is not aimed at students or Taiwanese businesses residing in China. She said the bill seeks to target criminal acts, and deter individuals from taking instructions from China.     [FULL  STORY]

• State department urges Beijing to abstain from actions that would jeopardise the self-ruled island’s security
• China’s newest aircraft carrier passed through Taiwan Strait on Thursday in latest show of force ahead of presidential election

South China Morning Post
Date: 27 Dec, 2019
By: Sarah Zheng

The US warned Beijing on Friday against trying to coerce Taiwan after China’s new aircraft carrier sailed through the Taiwan Strait in a show of strength that came two weeks before the island’s elections.

Taiwan’s defence ministry said on Thursday that the Shandong and accompanying frigates had sailed northwards though the Taiwan Strait.

The deteriorating relations between the mainland and the self-ruled island – which Beijing regards as part of its territory – have been a key issue in the campaign for the January 11 presidential and legislative elections.

On Friday the US State Department called on China to “abstain from coercion that would jeopardise the security, or the social or economic system, of the people [in] Taiwan”.
[FULL  STORY]

The three rivals will meet for a real debate Sunday Dec. 29

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/12/27
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The proposed Anti-Infiltration Act, energy policies, alleged corruption and angry exchanges about each other’s capabilities again dominated the third and final live policy presentation on television by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Kaohsiung City Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) and People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) Friday (Dec. 27).

However, the three rivals will still meet each other for a real debate with interaction and questions from journalists on Sunday (Dec. 29).

During Friday’s televised event, Han again lashed out at alleged corruption in Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration, while attacking the role of the factions inside the ruling party.

Tsai responded by saying Han was using the style of classical Chinese fiction to describe her party. She said she had not heard any policy proposals from the Kuomintang (KMT) candidate, only attacks against her. She went on to list Han’s failed promises as mayor of Kaohsiung, from attracting Disney to invest in an amusement park to plans for a Ferris wheel.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/12/27
By: Flor Wang and Lin Chang-hsung

Taipei, Dec. 27 (CNA) The Taipei District Court on Friday ruled in favor of former employees of Radio Corp. of America (RCA) and three of its affiliates, awarding the claimants a total of about NT$2.3 billion (NT$76.39 million) in a class action lawsuit.

RCA, Thomson Consumer Electronics (Bermuda), and Technicolor SA were ordered to pay NT$2.33 billion, while General Electric Co.'s (GE) was ordered to pay NT$2.285 billion, the court ruled.

However, in its ruling, the court said that if any one of the companies or a combination of some of the companies paid the NT$2.3 billion award, the other companies would not have to pay.

In its statement summarizing the verdict, the court did not make clear why each company was assessed a fine individually but only one or more of the four defendants had to pay it.
[FULL  STORY]

FINAL PLATFORM PRESENTATION: The three presidential contenders are to cross swords again tomorrow in a televised debate hosted by the Public Television Service

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 28, 2019
By: Jason Pan  /  Staff reporter

The three presidential candidates last night faced off in the third and final televised policy

presentation hosted by the Central Election Commission (CEC).

President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who is seeking re-election as the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) candidate, said that Taiwan under her leadership has made much progress, with an improved economy and a new national policy that aims to close developmental gaps between the nation’s regions.

She reiterated that Taiwan would not accept China’s proposed “one country, two systems” framework.

In defending her administration’s policies, Tsai said that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administrations long focused on providing financial support and infrastructure development to northern Taiwan, particularly Taipei and New Taipei City, while mostly neglecting central and southern Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]

How did Tom Cruise's jacket in "Top Gun: Maverick" spark a global controversy over Taiwan?

The News Lens
Date: 2019/12/26
By: Ross Feingold and Zoy Ku 

Op-Ed

Following the release of the second trailer of Top Gun: Maverick, the controversy over Tom Cruise’s

jacket might resurface. Cruise’s character, Captain Maverick, had four patches on the back of his jacket, including the Republic of China (ROC) flag and the Japanese flag in the original film. But fans noticed the patches were replaced in the new trailer.

Twitter users and international media reports said the flags were likely removed because of the investment made by China’s Tencent. The disappearance of the two flags was seen as an act of censorship to avoid offending the Chinese audience. This theory can certainly be true. But the ROC flag could also have been removed simply because it is a flag that older Americans might recognize from World War II or Cold War events, but not the current audiences.

Discussions of the Top Gun controversy also spread to media stories that incorrectly referred to the ROC flag as the “Taiwanese flag.” On the Top Gun: Maverick Wikipedia page, the section about the censorship controversy has undergone multiple revisions, implying that its neutrality is disputed.
[FULL  STORY]